Hoypus Hill 2019

Early morning shadows on today's hikers

Ten Senior Trailblazers drove 45 minutes from Bellingham to Cornet Bay on Whidbey Island to hike one of our usual wintertime excursions. While it's probably not anybody's favorite, it's a nice way to get some exercise outdoors, with some of our friends. Plus we escaped the icy trails at home. No snow, just mud.

Bare branches but decent trails

One can sure tell that it's winter from this picture: no buds on the branches, no burgeoning greenery like we've seen in past years. It has been a very cold February, so things might be a little behind schedule, but the sun was shining gloriously.

Getting comfy and ready for lunch

We walked out to Ala Spit, where we often have lunch, unless it's too cold and windy or unavailable at high tide. While it wasn't warm enough to sit around without some additional clothes, it was surprisingly warm in the sunshine, even with a light breeze, so we stayed there instead of retreating back into the forest.

Blue sky, water, driftwood

It was truly a lovely place to sit and enjoy our lunch, without having to rush before freezing solid. In fact, we lingered here for awhile just enjoying the view and the company, before heading back.

Delightful forest

It's a beautiful forest, with lots of Old Growth trees and ferns. We walked back along the East Hoypus trail, which is a very lovely section (as you can see from the above picture), as we made our way back to Cornet Bay and the cars.

Deception Pass Bridge in the distance

By the time we got back to the old logging road, we had a view of Deception Pass Bridge, which we would be driving back across to return home. We covered about nine miles and 1,100 feet of elevation, and everybody was in a very good mood as we piled into our cars and returned home. Another good day.
:-)

Farewell dear friend

Rob decapitating the cake

Sunday we had a goodbye party for Rob, who is moving out of the complex by the end of the month. Our friends Hedi and Dan hosted a really nice gathering for him at their place. Hedi bought this lovely cake, and here is Rob getting ready to cut it into pieces for everyone to enjoy.

Frankly, as much as I enjoyed the cake, I'm finding that I can no longer eat that sort of food without paying a very high price for it. I had an upset stomach all the rest of the night and into the morning. Now that I'm back to eating healthy food, I'm feeling much better. And I had a great yoga class this afternoon and that was all I needed to put myself back into the plus column. The older I get, the more I find that indiscretions like rich cake or too much wine leave me wishing I'd been more circumspect.

I just saw the long-term weather and discovered that winter is not over yet, not by a long shot. By the end of the month, almost everybody in the US (except my sister in Florida) will be in the deep freeze. I read about an Amtrak train from Seattle to Los Angeles that was stopped by deep snow and a fallen tree on the tracks. Here's the whole story, if you're interested. It started out on Sunday morning and was stuck for 37 hours, with 183 passengers and crew on board. Since the nearest town was without power, they were forced to stay on board the whole time. It sounds like it wasn't too bad, since they had power and food.

Some passengers took to social media, posting pictures and video of their fellow passengers passing the time by playing cards, talking or sleeping wherever they could find space. “We have accepted our new life on the train,” a Twitter user identified as Tracy27 posted on Monday night. “Tribes are forming.”

I wonder if there will be any babies born in nine months. It could happen!
:-)

Yep, I'm getting older

Hannegan Pass in August 2018

I am very grateful to be able to hike into the mountains every summer with the Senior Trailblazers. I've been doing it for a decade now, and I'm slower than I was, but for as long as I'm able, I'll be out there. I ran across a book of poems which I am enjoying tremendously, Older, Wiser, Shorter by Jane Seskin, and she's got me thinking about getting older in a bit different way than I usually do.

It has troubled me when I can no longer keep up with the others on some of the hikes we do every year. But then again, I'm still continuing to age and instead of thinking of how fortunate I am, I have been lamenting the inevitable changes that come with age. Well, I'm done with that! Here's a particularly relevant poem from Jane:

This is About the Right Now

It's not

the beginning

nor the end

but all those 

damn wonderful

exquisite moments,

the ones in between,

at odd times

unexpected, the ones that fall in

your lap, off your lips,

out of your hands,

can't be duplicated,

the moments where

you inhale in surprise,

in delight and feel full

with gratitude, so

extraordinarily lucky

to be here

in this place,

doing this thing,

at this exact

moment

in time.

:-)

An ice sunny day

Today's group (me behind the camera)

You can see that there were plenty of Senior Trailblazers up for an adventure on a beautiful sunny day... with no idea where to go, since all the trails are icy and snow covered. Al had to leave early, so Kirk agreed to take us on a hike through the Hundred Acre Wood in Fairhaven, and continue onto the Interurban trail and maybe get to Chuckanut Falls. 

Tree stump art (taken by Melanie)

Now the Hundred Acre Wood is not one of our usual places, and many of us had never been there before. Although the day was splendidly sunny, we also knew we would most likely be dealing with leftover ice and snow from last week's snowstorm. And we were so right. The Wood was fairly easy to navigate, but when we got to the Interurban trail, we all donned our spikes. Here's why:

Hard packed snow and ice

It made all the difference when we stopped to put on our spikes. It was cold enough last night to have hardened this surface into a treacherous situation. But we were undeterred, once we had the proper gear. So then we were able to continue on, feeling much more secure. 

Essential gear today

There were many different brands of spikes used, from Yak Trax (that don't actually have spikes but help to add some metal for grip) to several different versions of MicroSpikes that drill little points right into the ice. I had both with me today, but I used the spikes and lent my other set to one person who hadn't brought anything. It made a huge difference for all of us. We continued on our merry way to the bridge over Chuckanut Creek.

Arroyo Park bridge

We stopped here, considering whether or not to continue up the trail to the falls, or turn around. You can still see the remnants of our big snowstorm, and there have been so many people out on the trails that they are impassable without the above gear. 

Icy bridge and trail

This picture, taken from the bridge, shows the condition we dealt with today. The more we went upward, the more packed and icy the trail became. In fact, we realized that it would be treacherous coming back down, even with our gear, so we decided instead to return via the North Chuckanut trailhead and make our way back to our cars through the Hundred Acre Wood. But first we did make it all the way to Chuckanut Falls.

Today's destination

It was lovely to make it this far, and we would have had almost ten miles if we had returned the way we had come, but our trip back cut a little distance off today's hike. Nevertheless, we still covered more than nine miles, some said ten, and around 1,200 feet up and down.

Having lunch

Before we returned to the cars, however, we stopped at Fairhaven Park to have lunch. You can see how sunny and delightful it was. Frank took the picture, and both Al and Sue had already stopped hiking earlier. Since we didn't have anybody with a GPS, we could simply decide for ourselves how much distance we covered. It was a great day, and I expect we will return at some time to visit the Hundred Acre Wood again. 

:-)

Fire destroys old building

7:30am yesterday

Yesterday was a weird day. It started when I got a call at 6:15am from my coffee shop friend John that maybe I would be better off driving instead of taking the bus downtown, since there was a big fire right across the street from Avellino's. The old Hohl Feed & Seed building was aflame, with the street blocked off and lots of water running down the entire street. Apparently it also flooded the Bellingham bus terminal, because it was dark and the buses seemed delayed as well. I later learned that the power had been turned off because of the flooding.

After having found a place to get coffee, around 8:00am I walked by the scene and headed to the YMCA where I was getting ready to work out. Other than the lack of traffic lights, everything seemed fine there. But while I was riding the stationary bike at the Y, I began to see dark smoke coming up from the building, where I thought the fire was out. And then I saw this:

Flames!

The fire had flared up again, and soon there were lots of us looking out the window and wondering if it had jumped to another building. But it turns out that the fire was not completely out of the old building, built in 1901. And even after this was put out, it happened once again.

Aftermath

After my workout, when I walked back to where I parked my car, I saw that the original fire trucks had been joined by more, and if you look carefully here, you can see a stream of water directed right into the building from firemen on the ladder.

No one knows at this time how it started, but there were more than 75 animals saved and transported to the local Whatcom Humane Society. Laura Clark, the executive director, reported to the Bellingham Herald this good news:

"WHS animal control officers arrived on scene and loaded several cages and aquariums filled with animals and immediately transported them back to the Whatcom Humane Society, where our animal care staff was waiting to provide care,” she said.

A few birds succumbed to the smoke, and a large python is missing. Otherwise, all the animals were saved. This morning, other than the demolished building and a few barriers, everything seems to be back to normal. No more flames, thank heavens.
:-)

Love story for the ages

Lucy and John

It is one of my favorite things: to find an unforgettable memoir that just grabs me and gives me a lot to think about. And yesterday, I finished one that I can recommend without reservation: The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs. I not only enjoy all memoirs, but especially those that are written in extremis. Nina was a gifted writer and had the easiest way of talking about everything, with humor, as well as dying of breast cancer at 39. So, of course, I went online to find out more about Nina. I learned about her husband and children, and how much love was present in them all and for each other.

A couple of years ago, I read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, which is along the same lines: Paul was only 37 when he died of lung cancer, never smoked, and was a renowned neurosurgical resident at Stanford. I have read his book twice now and will, I'm sure, read it again. He and his wife decided to visit a sperm bank in order to help his wife get pregnant before he died. He was very ill when his daughter, Cady, was born, but he lived long enough to be there. It's a tremendously inspiring book, too. I also recommend it highly.

But the love story: Nina was so worried about how John would be able to deal with her death that she asked him to get ahold of Lucy Kalanithi, who had been through the same experience that he was facing, and could possibly help him. Nina and Lucy were already friends because of an essay Nina had published in The Washington Post. Lucy had written her a fan letter and wrote a glowing blurb for the unpublished book, and sent Nina a private email two days before Nina died in a hospice. John read the email to her, and Nina begged him to get ahold of her afterward.

John did, and over the period of several months of intense emails, they decided to meet. Lucy was scheduled to come to a conference less than an hour away from John's home. That was the beginning of this part of the love story. The Washington Post wrote a wonderful article about it, which you can read in its entirety here. (Note: I subscribe to the Post, so I don't have a limit on what I can see. Please let me know if you have a problem reading it, and I'll try to find another way.)

For me, it was a Valentine's Day reward, a wonderful book and a real-life love story all at once. (P.S. I found, after some more digging, that the couple broke it off last summer, so the love story might not be still happening. Too soon?)
:-)

Melanie and me

Today's Senior Trailblazers

Both Senior Trailblazer hikes were canceled today, and Melanie and I decided, after offering everybody the chance to join us, to take a nice stroll down the Boulevard Park 2.5-mile walk from downtown Bellingham to Fairhaven. It was not difficult terrain, since there's no hills to speak of, but we did finally strap on our Microspikes so we wouldn't keep slipping. Neither of us had any problem at all, but we didn't have any additional snow or rain while we were out.

Big and little snowman and me

The clouds were threatening during the hours we were walking, but nothing came out of them. It is expected that later today the rain should start, and the temperature rose from around freezing all the way up to 40°F (4.5°C) while we were out.

Buffleheads again

I captured that same group of buffleheads (I assume) that were there last time I was here. The snow in the foreground has definitely begun to melt, but we have so much more snow than we are accustomed to. Piles line the major streets after snowplows have come through.

Distant mountains

In the distance, we could see mountains in Canada just below the gray skies. It was beautiful, to me at least, to gaze out at the darkness, the gray-green water, and the snow. We covered around five miles total, and there were plenty of other people out enjoying the fresh air. I'm hoping that by next week we can return to more normal activities. But in any event, it was a lovely way to spend a few hours with a super friend.
:-)